U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon in very tight race

One of the more solid representatives in congress is in a tight race. This is one race that paints a very sharp contrast in the candidates views on a range of issues. This is a classic conservative versus liberal race.

Gov. Ed Rendell's Campaign Ads on Taxes

I just saw one of Ed Rendell's campaign ads, and it was amazing. The ad was all about him fighting for lower taxes. Ed Rendell? The same governor who wanted to increase the income tax rate by more than a third and fought incredibly hard to get the increase in the income tax and other taxes that he wanted? Now he is claiming that he has been the champion of lower taxes? No one can argue that the overall tax rate has gone down under Rendell's tenure. Obviously Lynn Swan's campaign ads must be drawing some blood. I just hope that Rendell doesn't again claim a mandate for increasing taxes again if he wins the election.

Governor Rod Blagojevich's worsening ethical problems

On several occasions Gov. Blagojevich does a double take and asks for questions to be repeated as one reporter after another grills him on the details of what's becoming a damaging new ethical scandal. The details are known thanks to Chicago Tribune reporter John Chase: In September 2003, Gov. Blagojevich accepted a $1,500 check from a family friend, Michael Ascaridis, shortly before helping that friend's wife land a $45,000-a-year state job. The wife previously had flunked the civil service exam, and the governor now admits instructing his chief of staff to help find her a place anyway. Gov. Blagojevich also neglected to report the check on his annual disclosure forms until the FBI began snooping around his financials this summer. He defended the error by saying the check had been a gift for one daughter's christening or another daughter's seventh birthday, he wasn't sure which. . . . .

Ms. Topinka remains a serious contender because Mr. Blagojevich has been unable to push himself across the 50% threshold. His job approval rating is anemic and with some 12% of the electorate undecided on who to vote for this November, Ms. Topinka would stitch together a narrow victory if Mr. Blagojevich continues to flounder in explaining what for many voters will be a very simple story: A friend of the governor cut a check and then his wife landed a state job.

9/25/2006

"Chicks Carrying Guns and Kicking Tail"

Governor Ed Rendell and corruption problems

This from John Fund at OpinionJournals Political Diary. This piece doesn't mention other problems Rendell has faced regarding slot machines and appointments to the commission.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell frequently has been looked at cross-eyed by other Democrats for his questionable party loyalty -- even when he was party boss. That made it all the more newsworthy when, apparently safe in his own reelection race against former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann, he last week delivered $200,000 in campaign cash to Bob Casey, the state treasurer seeking to unseat GOP Sen. Rick Santorum.

Here's an unsung factor that may explain the previously cool Mr. Rendell's sudden activism on Mr. Casey's behalf. A new Santorum ad, denounced as "misleading" by goo-goo groups, features actors playing unidentified Casey donors discussing their doings -- behind bars. Though the ad takes dramatic license, it alludes to a real, late-breaking problem for Democrats: An FBI investigation of Philadelphia-area developer Robert Feldman, who has raised millions for Messrs. Rendell and Casey as well as for John Street, Mr. Rendell's successor as Philadelphia mayor. The Philadelphia Inquirer last week quoted from an FBI surveillance tape that caught Mr. Feldman complaining about being shut out of a Penn's Landing development deal three years ago: "I've got nothing. I've raised a ton of money for the mayor. I'm raising right now for him. Maybe I should make this my 'big ask.'"

A lingering frost had been perceived between the two Democrats, Mr. Casey and Mr. Rendell, since their nasty fight for the 2002 gubernatorial nomination. The popular Gov. Rendell endorsed his former rival for Senate and, more importantly, worked behind the scenes to secure the nomination for him, but that's not the same thing as fervently advocating his cause in the general election. He hasn't cut any ads for Mr. Casey. Worse, just a few weeks ago, he went out of his way to praise Mr. Santorum in back-to-back interviews as a senator who "delivers" for Pennsylvania. Mr. Santorum has since closed the gap markedly, though Mr. Casey is still favored. . . .

"First-Grader Suspended Over Plastic Squirt Gun"

If you look at a picture of the gun that accompanies this article, it is almost hard to instantly recognize it as a toy gun. The orange color and design make it look almost as if it were a bloob of plastic.